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Tue, 12 Jul 2016 03:04:18 +0000en-UShourly1http://meaganfrancis.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/cropped-meaganfavicon-150x150.pnghttp://meaganfrancis.com
3232This Is A Post About Dog Poop.http://meaganfrancis.com/post-dog-poop/
http://meaganfrancis.com/post-dog-poop/#commentsWed, 18 May 2016 16:53:31 +0000http://meaganfrancis.com/?p=1137Up until about 8 months ago, I was a prolific writer. I published my first essay in 2001, and kept going for fifteen years. I wrote a weekly personal newspaper column for four years. My work appeared in large national magazines for a decade-plus, and it’s been featured on countless websites (I suppose technically they could be counted, but I’ve lost count.) I published four books the traditional way and one e-book, and from 2009 on, I blogged several times a week. And then one day, I just stopped. There were a lot of very valid reasons for taking a break. One, the content

]]>http://meaganfrancis.com/post-dog-poop/feed/3Don’t Run Your Blog Like A Mediocre Restaurant (2 Mistakes To Avoid)http://meaganfrancis.com/2-totally-avoidable-mistakes-bloggers-small-businesses-make/
http://meaganfrancis.com/2-totally-avoidable-mistakes-bloggers-small-businesses-make/#commentsThu, 12 Nov 2015 18:38:13 +0000http://meaganfrancis.com/?p=643As someone who loves to dine out and travels a lot, I’m often baffled by obvious examples of missed customer service at the restaurants and other small businesses I visit. One evening, while ranting to my husband about a so-so dinner experience (which, incidentally, did not come at a so-so price) I started checking off faults we’d noticed in a single dining experience: Horrible use of social media. Lackluster greeting. Inconsistent service. But later, as I reflected on my laundry list of complaints, I realized something uncomfortable: I have made every single one of the same mistakes as a blogger. And, I’m guessing, so have you.

]]>http://meaganfrancis.com/2-totally-avoidable-mistakes-bloggers-small-businesses-make/feed/4A dream realized (scenes from the BEYOND Retreat)http://meaganfrancis.com/a-dream-realized-scenes-from-the-beyond-retreat/
http://meaganfrancis.com/a-dream-realized-scenes-from-the-beyond-retreat/#commentsWed, 28 Oct 2015 15:51:18 +0000http://meaganfrancis.com/?p=952Nearly three weeks ago now, nine women came together in Southwest Michigan to refresh, recharge, dream, and get inspired at my very first live event – the BEYOND Retreat. Our charming rural lodging – a spacious farmhouse on a wooded lot a few blocks from Lake Michigan – set the stage for a relaxing and luxurious weekend. There was plenty of time for group conversation and one-on-one connection. We set goals and offered each other suggestions for making more time for ourselves, identifying our values and priorities, and incorporating our dreams, big and small, into our busy lives. There was time for yoga, walks on

]]>http://meaganfrancis.com/a-dream-realized-scenes-from-the-beyond-retreat/feed/2Time Is Not The Most Important Thing We Havehttp://meaganfrancis.com/time-not-all-we-have/
http://meaganfrancis.com/time-not-all-we-have/#commentsFri, 18 Sep 2015 00:20:46 +0000http://meaganfrancis.com/?p=900A little over a year ago, I faced a milestone that had seemed impossibly far away for most of my adult life, and was now, suddenly, right around the corner: the day all five of my children would be in school, all day, all at the same time. Since having my first child at 20, I’d never experienced a period when I didn’t have at least one baby, toddler or preschooler in the house (often more than one at a time.) And, especially during my decade-plus career as a work-from-home writer, that led to developing an almost obsessive relationship with time. How long will this

]]>http://meaganfrancis.com/time-not-all-we-have/feed/9Podcasting 101: How To Get Your First Show Off The Ground, Even If You’re A Total Beginnerhttp://meaganfrancis.com/podcasting-101/
http://meaganfrancis.com/podcasting-101/#respondWed, 17 Jun 2015 21:59:52 +0000http://meaganfrancis.com/?p=912I’m so glad you’re thinking about starting a podcast! After dreaming about podcasting for years, I finally launched my first show, The Home Hour, back in 2012, and just a few months ago started up a small lifestyle podcast network, Life Listened. It’s been a fantastic experience, widening my audience reach and connecting me with fabulous, interesting people in my niche and beyond. We are just seeing the tip of the iceberg with the potential of podcasting, and I truly believe that if you’re getting in now you are very much on the cutting edge: when it comes to growth

]]>http://meaganfrancis.com/podcasting-101/feed/0Always Over-Deliver? Raise Your Rates.http://meaganfrancis.com/always-over-deliver-raise-your-rates/
http://meaganfrancis.com/always-over-deliver-raise-your-rates/#commentsThu, 12 Mar 2015 17:29:03 +0000http://meaganfrancis.com/?p=876I have something exciting to announce. No, it’s not a sale, a discount, or a special deal…in fact, it’s the opposite. Starting today, I’m charging…more. For months, I’ve offered a content strategy audit for bloggers and small businesses for $297. As advertised, the deliverable was pretty simple: a 2-3 page analysis of a site’s strengths and weaknesses, with a recommended plan of action. It packed a lot of value, since I put considerable time and thought into analyzing sites and creating the plan – but it was also a fair rate for what I promised to deliver. Here’s the rub, though. I always delivered more

]]>http://meaganfrancis.com/always-over-deliver-raise-your-rates/feed/1Knowing myself, knowing others: my uncomfortable – but revealing – afternoon with the Enneagramhttp://meaganfrancis.com/my-uncomfortable-afternoon-with-the-enneagram/
http://meaganfrancis.com/my-uncomfortable-afternoon-with-the-enneagram/#commentsTue, 03 Mar 2015 18:42:09 +0000http://meaganfrancis.com/?p=825I’ve always been a sucker for personality evaluations. I’ve taken Myers-Briggs tests at least two dozen times (ENFP. Always, always ENFP) and as a girl, would always turn first to the “Who’s your style icon?” and “What’s your friendship quotient?” type quizzes in any new issue of Seventeen magazine. As a person who’s fascinated by personality, psychology and the way the human brain and heart work, there’s something tantalizing about the idea of being a little more in touch with my psyche, or – let’s be honest here – sometimes, just having a flattering assumption validated. So when I stumbled across the concept

]]>http://meaganfrancis.com/my-uncomfortable-afternoon-with-the-enneagram/feed/8Should your passion be a hobby or career? There’s always an option C.http://meaganfrancis.com/passion-hobby-career/
http://meaganfrancis.com/passion-hobby-career/#commentsTue, 24 Feb 2015 18:30:24 +0000http://meaganfrancis.com/?p=796Recently a coaching client of mine was having a hard time deciding whether to keep her job – a low-paying, low-opportunity position in her dream industry – or leave it all behind and try to launch a career as a screenwriter. Well into her 30s, with financial obligations that were making her minuscule paychecks unsustainable – but the idea of chucking it all and starting from scratch even scarier – she worried that she was running out of choices and time to turn her dream into a career. As we talked, I pointed out that her natural work ethic and eagerness to please

]]>http://meaganfrancis.com/passion-hobby-career/feed/2Bored? How to stay inspired as a novelty-seeking creativehttp://meaganfrancis.com/novelty-boredom/
http://meaganfrancis.com/novelty-boredom/#respondWed, 18 Feb 2015 00:39:46 +0000http://meaganfrancis.com/?p=773After dropping the kids off at school the other morning, driving down the busiest street in our (admittedly not-very-traffic-congested) town, I saw something unusual: three large wild turkeys, who’d apparently just stumbled up out of the ravine that segments our little city. The trio stood in confusion on the sidewalk, one cautiously approaching the street, then retreating, while the other two ruffled their feathers and craned their long necks from side to side. I slowed my car to a crawl as I passed. There was no place to pull over, and I worried that if I approached the birds they’d run out

]]>http://meaganfrancis.com/novelty-boredom/feed/0Why I won’t be making a “40 before 40” bucket list (and what I’m doing instead.)http://meaganfrancis.com/40-before-40/
http://meaganfrancis.com/40-before-40/#commentsWed, 04 Feb 2015 22:56:22 +0000http://meaganfrancis.com/?p=752When I first saw When Harry Met Sally, I was a teenager, and the space between 32 – Sally’s age during that pivotal scene – and 40 didn’t seem like much to quibble over. “Yeah, you’re gonna be 40, Sally, but let’s be honest here…you’re already old,” quipped my insufferably youthful mind. Needless to say, when I myself turned 32, that eight-year distance seemed a lot more meaningful. I had plenty of time to be ‘in my 30s,’ I figured…and yes, in some ways, that was true. Still, in the chaos of raising young children and growing my career, my early 30s went by